Absit Invidia

Let there be no envy or ill will

Deston Aldridge

Fallen Cleric

Description:

Deston is a fairly-tall, male human with a medium build. He has blonde hair and hazel eyes. He usually wears simple clothing now that he’s in prison again.

Bio:

Side Campaign
Deston was released from prison by Tallis and Shady with the other people who had been incarcerated during the reign of King Adrian Winford for using magic within the city. His crime was using an unauthorized healing spell and was sentenced to five years in prison. He thanked the adventurers for freeing him and the others, thanked Tallis for returning his holy symbol of Pelor to him, and went home.

There, he found his wife dead in their bed with a knife in her chest. He tried his best to revive her, but she had been dead for months and he wasn’t able to do anything because of how much time had passed. He tried going to the other clerics in the city, but none of them would help him due to his past. He had fallen out of favor of Pelor, due to Deston loses his faith in the god and his dogma after the horrors he’d seen in the world.

Out of options, he decided that he’d take matters into his own hands. He did some research and found the location of an abandoned Temple of Nerull, a few miles south of Belmont, and went there.

He began to pray to Nerull for assistance. It took a while, but eventually, who he believed to be Nerull responded to his prayers and promised to bring his wife back to life as long as he showed his worth. Nerull stated that in exchange for Deston’s wife’s life, he must sacrifice seven women to him.

After The Copper Dragon Tavern’s Weekly Wednesday Tavern Brawl, Sira was notified while speaking to Tallis and Shady that a body of a young woman was found in the Fisher District, outside The Meady Ochre Tavern. The body of Sadie Treebow was found wearing a simple, white, ceremonial dress that was completely clean other than the large spot of red across her chest. There was also evidence that she had been bound and gagged. Tallis and Shady decided to help Sira investigate the murder, but came up with nothing.

The next night, the body of one of Savine’s employees, a woman named Lissette, was found outside The Crimson Raven. It was a similar sight as the night before, but Lissette wore a red dress in a similar style to what Sadie wore. Lissette’s body also had three stab wounds: one to the heart, one in the shoulder, and one to the gut. The adventurers asked Savine if she knew anything about it, and she said that nothing was out of the ordinary expect that Lissette was supposed to show up for work and never did so, then The Crimson Raven hosted a Gambit of Ord tournament that day and three new people were at her establishment because of it: A human bard named Matthew, an elven man named Daeris, and human man from Westwend that the adventurers knew. The adventurers spoke with Matthew, who knew nothing about the woman murdered and insisted that they should look into a necromancer, Gregory the Great. They then spoke with Daeris, who Tallis quickly became irritated with, and learned that he was actually Bahamut in disguise as an elf.

The adventurers decided to do some research and found an exerpt from the book, Belmont: A History. It read: “Four miles south of the city, tucked away in the woods, stands a simple church. Abandoned and long forgotten, it sits as a testament to darker days and the horrors that used to plague the land. However simple and quaint the building seems on the outside, its true purpose lives under the earth. A temple to Nerull, the Reaper, the Foe of All Good, the Hater of Life, and the Bringer of Darkness. A place where holiness means to be bathed in the blood of the innocent and bask in the glory of murder. Those who followed him, who went against their humanity, believed that they would be rewarded for their horrendous acts.” With a bit more research, the party decided to make their way to the temple.

There, they found that the church was empty, but the basement was not. Eventually, they found Ashlan Browndall bound to a stone altar across the room, wearing a red, ceremonial robe like Lissette wore, seemingly asleep. The adventurers soon saw the figure of a man sitting on the floor in shadow, his form shaking with his sobs. They called out of him, and Deston looked up, looking broken, wearing black scale armor and the symbol of Nerull around his neck. He explained to Tallis and Shady his story, stating his deal with Nerull and explaining that he didn’t want to kill these women, but he didn’t have any other choice. He just wanted his wife back.

Tallis, for lack of a better word, chewed him out for his decision, stating that he had damned himself while Shady unbound Ashlan from the altar. Tallis’ words weighed heavily on him, especially since she mentioned to him that Nerull was dead. He wasn’t sure who he’d been talking to. The adventurers also ordered him to give over his weapon, his magical ring, and his holy symbol as they took them back to Belmont.

There, Deston was imprisoned again for the murders of the two women and the attempted murder of a third. However, Sira wasn’t comfortable with the fact that there was some entity talking to him.